I am all in favor of disconnecting college sports from the school itself. In effect, privatize them as professional college teams, that license the school logo.

Importantly, as private sports clubs, they would not be restricted to only having student athletes, though they would have weight and age limits. Lots of benefits here.

1) First of all, the players are paid. Hopefully with profit sharing bonuses as well.

2) Players would not have to pretend that they were attending school. If they were going to college, it would be for a real degree. Also, they would have another several years after graduation without having to be drafted by a pro team or ending up on the street.

3) The teams would act like a minor league for the NFL, but still be “pseudo-college” teams. No need for an off season, so players are training and playing in spring and summer as well.

What you say actually makes a lot of sense. Japan hasn't quite done this at the college level, athletes still have to be students. But they've done a great job with this at the company level. Big league baseball teams are owned as much by the company as by their respective cities.

This can cause schizophrenia at times. When we lived in Kobe, our team (the Blue Wave) was owned by a car rental/finance company called Orix. Dai-Ei (big market chain like Wal-Mart) owned the Fukuoka Hawks, but was headquartered in Kobe. When Fukuoka came to town, you had almost as many locals rooting for the visiting team.

Below the professional level, there are scores of company teams. Not just in baseball, but pro-basketball as well. We managed to place an NCAA woman's star on one of these company teams. They played in a league where the players were required to be company employees, so they found her a token desk job.

Some of the pure semi-pro company leagues don't even require that facade, just great playing ability. Of course, Japan isn't as crazy as we are about how much athletes get paid, so you tend to have more rounded individuals who don't see it as a career. And, of course, the really, really good ones come over here. Ichiro Suzuki was still a hometown favorite when we lived in Kobe. He exploded the long-held myth that Japanese players would never make it in American Big League Baseball except as pitchers.

16 posted on 10/04/2012 8:34:37 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
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